The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1887-10-21
RUSSIAN NEWSPAPERS.
ONLY 600 JOURNALS PUBLISHED IN
THE CzAR'S ENTIRE EMPIRE.
All the Noted Newspapers Conducted By
Independent Writers Have Been Aboi-
ished-omciai statistics-why Russia Is
Almost Newspsperiess-war

All the Noted Newspapers Conducted by
Independent writers Have Been Abol-
ished-0hicial statistios-why Russia Is
Almost Newspsperiess-warn
A complete stagnation threatens the
Russian press. 1t is not because nowa-
days there are no able writers in Russia.
The trouble is that the present minister of
the interior, Count d. Tolstoi has sue
ceeded in abolishing all the noted journals
conducted by talented and independent
writers. The list of the periodical publ
cations that have been suppressed during
the last six years is far more interesting
and valuable than all the papers now liv-
ing. Now there is no originality about
Russian journals, no freshness and none
Of that domestic stirring interest which
in the days gone by used to so much at
tract attention in all parts of the great
empire
The suspended Golos (The Voice. has
left fully $4,000 subscribers without any
paper to their taste, for none Of them dare
to defend the constitutional form of the
government as The Golos did. In the
sixties, when the czar-liberator tried to
free the press from the iron grip of the
censor, Nicholas Tchernyshevsky started
The Contemporary Review, monthly in
which he taught the Russian public for
the first time to conscientiously criticise
the government measures. It is impos-
sible in this country even to imagine
what whirlwind Of public opinion he
raised as by magic. But even the liber-
ator could not long stand such freedom of
discussion, and Tchernyshevsky was sent
to Siberia for seven years and kept there
for fifteen But the martyrology of the
Russian editors and writers is too long to
be given here.
The number of periodicals issued in
Russia amounts to little over 600. As
the population of the czar's empire is
105, ,0OO 900, it is evident then that 1t takes
175,oOO Russian subjects to support one
periodical, whereas in the United States
every 1000 souls support some publica-
ton.
RUssIA's 400 PERIODICALS.
Putting aside 200 periodicals published
in other than the Russian language, the
4OO Russian periodicals are classified as
follows: Daily, 55; weekly, So; monthly,
"; several times per week, 40; several
times per year, 1873. Nearly one-half the
Russian periodicals are published in the
capital of the empire, st. Petersburg, and
one-third in seven Of the largest towns.
leaving for the rest of the great empire less
than 100 periodicals. In the czar's country
there are many towns Of 10000, 90, 900.
or even 40, 600 inhabitants which have not
periodical Of any kind The whole of
Siberia, with 1000, 600 of population, has
only two newspapers and bi-monthly of q
geographical society.
According to the official statistics fur
nished by the post department last year
in Russia there passed through the mail
about 1880, 600 copies of Russian peri
odicals of all sorts, and a, 500, 900 of for
eign periodicals were received in Russia.
Thus it appears that there is not for each
subject of the czar during year even a
single copy of any periodical, Russian or
foreign.
Why is the Russian press so ipsigpifi-
cant as to its volume' Some say it is be-
cause fully 80 per cent. of the Russians
are illiterate. But If the educated and
schooled Russians would read newspapers
as freely as Americans do, then in Russia
there would be 1000 periodicals instead of
6OO. There are other causes that make
the czar's country almost newspaperless
In the first place, there is no political life
at all, and the industrial life there is
in its embryotic state. Russians have
not so much news to exchange as the
people in other countries have In the
second place, the autocratic government
sySteHldtlcally ana most Strenucusly op-
poses the growth of the press. Cars have
always been aware that writers, even
though in the clutches of censors and
under political supervision, are apt to
think for themselves, to argue and to
criticise. Thus they develop in them
selves and in their readers the qualities
most decidedly Objectionable in imperial
subjects. Every job printer in Russia
must procure police certificate of good
character and furnish bonds, and every
publisher, besides these qualifications,
must maintain an imperial inspector at
his own establishment.
In Russia every editor of prominence
must pass part of his life in prison. If
we add to that the fatal ministerial warn
ings, prohibition of inserting advertise
ments, heavy fines and suspension, we
shall wonder not that there are so few
periodicals, but that among Russians
there are men and women ready to enter
the career of journalist, which ranks in
danger next to that of conspirator. Mos
cow Letter.